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Today we are in St. Pierre, Martinique. That?s the thing about these Caribbean islands ? they just aren?t that far apart. It takes less than a day to sail between them, so one day we are in Grenada, the next Carriacou, and now Martinique. So different from the South Pacific!
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 We are here as part of a Tall Ship event celebrating (commemorating would be a better word) the eruption 100 years ago of Mt. Pelee. On May 8, 1902, Ascension Day, the volcano exploded with a ferocity that shocked the whole island. The city of St. Pierre, already more than 200 years old and considered by many to be the "Paris of the West" was obliterated. In less than 3 minutes 30,000 people were dead, incinerated where they stood. I spent an afternoon at the fantastic volcano museum here, and learned that the eruption wasn?t such a surprise and the loss of life was largely preventable.
 As early as January the volcano was showing signs of activity, steam pouring from fumaroles near the crater, rumbling, things like that. On April 23rd, minor explosions began at the mountain?s summit and St. Pierre was rocked by tremors, covered in hot ash and choked in a thick cloud of gas.
Ok, at that point I would have left, but Mt. Pelee had shown activity like this before and the people in St. Pierre weren?t too worried. Also, a volcano erupted on one of the nearby islands and many thought that would take the pressure off their own volcano. They were wrong.
 On May 5th a group of men went up the volcano and noticed that the once placid lake in the crater was a seething, boiling pit of mud. Later that day part of the crater collapsed and sent a torrent of scalding mud, ash and rocks shooting down the mountain. Twenty three men working at a rum distillery were killed. The torrent fell all the way to the sea where it created a 9 foot high tsunami which flooded the low lying waterfront.
If I hadn?t left yet, I definitely would have left at that point! But there was an election coming up, and the governor, Louis Mouttet, didn?t want people leaving the city before they could vote, since many people in St. Pierre were expected to vote for him. The group that had ascended the volcano wrote a comforting report stating, "There is nothing in the activity of Mt. Pelee that warrants a departure from St. Pierre?the safety of St. Pierre is completely assured." The governor convinced the local paper to print stories downplaying the danger and encouraging people to stay. When some tried to leave anyway, Governor Mouttet went so far as to send in troops to patrol the road to Fort-de-France and turn back any refugees trying to escape.
 Just before 8 am on the morning of May 8th, the volcano exploded with a fury never seen before. A large black cloud of superheated gas, ash, rock rocketed down the mountain at more than 100 miles an hour. In less than a minute the cloud hit St. Pierre and life ended for nearly 30,000 people. Walls were blown to bits, bonfires were set, buildings were left piles of rubble and mangled ribbons of steel.
There were only two survivors: a man who lived far enough on the outskirts to avoid the direct blast and a prisoner who?d been locked in solitary confinement. Protected by the thick walls and narrow, grated window, he survived for four days before being found by searchers from Fort-de-France.
 Today St. Pierre is a sleepy little tourist town. New buildings have gone up in and around the ruins of the once-great city. Mt. Pelee stands above it all, quiet, majestic and peaceful, with no hint of the violence it showed exactly 100 years ago.
Hopefully it?ll stay that way!
To learn the whole story, visit The Eruption of Mt. Pelee
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